Dear Editor,
On Saturday October 30, 2021, the Guyana Police Force held what it called its ‘Inaugural Integrity in Policing’ symposium at the Arthur Chung Convention Center. Among those in attendance were Prime Minister Mark Phillips (who was preforming the duties of the President), Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn, Commissioner of Police (Ag) Nigel Hoppie, several Government functionaries, and many senior officers of the Guyana Police Force. I was struck by the name of the symposium, which I found ironic. What integrity were they talking about? The Oxford dictionary defines integrity as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, moral uprightness”. Someone said that “A person with integrity behaves ethically and does the right thing, even behind closed doors”. Having regards to the above definition I have concluded that the phrase Integrity in Policing, in the Guyana context, is oxymoronic. From what I read, many words and phrases like professionalism, accountability, inte-grity, motivated work force, were mentioned during the several presentations.
Firstly, I found it laughable that at a symposium dealing with ‘integrity’ at least two of the major players, Assistant Commissioner Clifton Hicken, and Senior Superintendent Calvin Brutus, were referred to, and held themselves out as acting Deputy Commissioners, when they are not. So what integrity are you speaking of? Remember the definition of inte-grity speaks of honesty. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Home Affairs, and the Commissioner (Ag) all alluded to the need for a professional Police Force. That may be considered a good start as it can be considered a tacit admission that the Guyana Police Force is currently at its unprofessional best. I am sure that all law-abiding Guyanese would welcome a professional Force, which serves the interest of all citizens and not only the “big ones”, friends and the well connected. A professional Guyana Police Force would require ethical leadership, which is sadly lacking at this time. Please don’t get me wrong; there are currently lots of qualified ranks in the Guyana Police Force who can provide the required leadership. However, they are marginalized and some of the most unprofessional, vindictive, corrupt, self-serving and ‘barely literate uneducated ones’ hold sway.
I make bold to say that the Guyana Police Force will not become the desired professional organization while some of the current senior officers remain at the helm. Let me be presumptuous and say that a good place to start in professionalizing the Guyana Police Force would be by doing the following:
1. The Government should stop its unprecedented interference in the Force.
2. The Government should discontinue the weaponization of the Force to go after perceived non-supporters and others for no other reason than they remain professional and do not acquiesce to political demands.
3. The Minister of Home Affairs must stay out of operational matters in the Force, which are the sole preserve of the Commissioner of Police. (Those matters include transfer/posting of ranks and countermanding legitimate instructions from the Commissioner to his subordinates).
4. Stop encouraging the undermining of the Commissioner (Ag). When decisions are made by him that do not find favour with some of his senior subordinates, Government officials, including the Minister of Home Affairs, are approached and the decisions are overturned. (Here is one example: Assistant Commission-er Clifton Hicken, without any lawful authority, promoted ranks when the Commissioner was briefly out of the jurisdiction. On his return the Com-missioner (Ag), quite correctly, reversed the unlawful promotions. The Government intervened and the Commissioner (Ag) was instructed to allow the promotions to take effect.
5. We must not forget the meetings of the Police Association. The Com-missioner (Ag) instructed the legitimate body to hold an election (It is questionable whether that was lawful, as elections were not constitutionally due). Two elections were held, and two sets of office bearers were elected. When the Commission-er (Ag) learnt of this development he wrote to the persons concerned and nullified the results of both elections and ordered fresh elections. The very next day he reversed his decision and ordered that the results of the unlawful election must be recognized. I have absolutely no doubt that the Commissioner (Ag) was instructed to recognize the results of the unlawful meeting (hope he has the integrity to admit that).
6. The Chief Justice found Senior Superintendent Calvin Brutus to be “self-serving”. He also has pending disciplinary and other matters. He is allegedly vindictive and unprofessional; yet he remains in charge of “Administration”.
7. Senior Superintendent Fazil Karimbaksh has disciplinary matters pending against him. He is allegedly vindictive and unprofessional; yet he remains in charge of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).
8. Assistant Commissioner Clifton Hicken is alleged to have committed perjury during the Linden Commission of In-quiry. (The records from the COI are there and can be scrutinised). He is the head of ‘Operations” in the Guyana Police Force.
9. There are too many bad actors in key positions in the Force and once they remain in those positions, and in the Force, the changes that the society needs and has been clamoring for will never be realized.
Some years ago a British advisor who was doing work in Guyana presented me with a book entitled ‘In the Office of Constable”, in which Sir Robert Mark, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service of London (Also known as the Met or Scotland Yard), chronicled his efforts to rid the Service of bad actors. If the Minister and the Commissioner are really interested in ridding the Guyana Police Force of corruption and other forms of unprofessional behaviour I will strongly recommend that they read that book and seek to implement some of the methods that were employed by Sir Robert Mark. But then again, some would say that Guyana is not a real place.
Sincerely,
Paul Slowe
Assistant Commissioner of Police
(Ret’d)